


Purpose

by a_shot_in_the_dark



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:48:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26042971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_shot_in_the_dark/pseuds/a_shot_in_the_dark
Summary: No one could have predicted what was going to happen.Now Hazel is stuck with an empty house and an empty life. He sends Herb a scowl, rolling back over.“Oh, come now, Hazel. You're needed.”“I'm done with the Commission,” Hazel growls, tossing a pillow in his direction for good measure. “You know that.”“Ohpf!” He hears Herb toss the pillow aside. “I do. I know, Hazel.”“Then why are youhere?”“Because it's not for the Commission,” Herb says.
Kudos: 11





	Purpose

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Season 2 of Umbrella Academy past this point!
> 
> The canonical character death is Agnes, and there's some drinking binges implied in this.
> 
> This is a bit of a filler fic, since they never explain how Hazel got into all that! Enjoy!

“Hazel.”

Hazel's world lurches around him as he flails up into a seated position. Bottles clang around him. He pushes his unwashed gray hair off his forehead, groggily looking up.

He doesn't have to look up far. It's Herb, in his neat, blue suit, looking just the same as the last time Hazel saw him. It had been the day he and Cha Cha were assigned Number Five's case. He knew about everyone at the Commission, and he and Herb started a bet over whether Hazel would mess up this mission or not. All in good fun, of course. 

No one could have predicted what was going to happen. 

Now Hazel is stuck with an empty house and an empty life. He sends Herb a scowl, rolling back over.

“Oh, come now, Hazel. You're needed.”

“I'm done with the Commission,” Hazel growls, tossing a pillow in his direction for good measure. “You know that.”

“Ohpf!” He hears Herb toss the pillow aside. “I do. I know, Hazel.”

“Then why are you _here_?”

“Because it's not for the Commission,” Herb says, and Hazel turns his head, suspicious.

“Who for, then?”

“Let's say 'for the betterment of society.'”

Hazel doesn't say anything for a few moments, his mind whirring, and of course that gives Herb a chance to be awkward.

“I'm... so very sorry, Hazel. About your- you-... Agnes.”

He feels himself deflate, and he sits up, nodding, grateful for once that Herb is the one struggling here.

“Thanks. We had 20 years together, at least. That's something.”

“Indeed,” Herb says, pushing his glasses up on his nose as he studies the bird guide book next to him. “She liked birds.”

“Yeah. I was going to take her on a hike the day that we had that appointment. The day we found out.”

Herb nods silently. Hazel gathers up the bottles around him, thinking of how embarrassed Agnes would have been to have company over with a mess on the floor.

“Anyway, she's gone. What did you want, Herb?” he asks tiredly.

“You still have friends out there, friends who need your help, Hazel. I tried to give you time, but there just isn't time anymore.”

Hazel, having put the bottles in the recycling, turns back to Herb, eyeing him curiously.

“What do you mean? What friends?”

“The day you went to 1940, Five and his family travel to the 1960s. They cause an apocalypse there that obliterates the earth. I was watching the Infinite Switchboard, and I think I caught something,” he says hurriedly.

“Wha-”

“I can't make any copies, and Five needs to know. He needs a copy of video of JFK's assassination. That's your mission, Hazel.”

He sees another briefcase behind him and stares at Herb, dumbfounded.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Well, one, an apocalypse in the 1960s would be very inconvenient, everyone in 'The Resistance' is against it. Two, although Five was... quite scary, honestly, I know you two have a bond. An unlikely friendship. And three, though you may spit in the world's face today, Hazel, though it's hurt you more than you can bear, I know you still believe this world can be a big, bright, beautiful place.”

There's a pause where Hazel's deeply, genuinely touched, and then Herb says, “Though I don't like when pop stars release Christmas albums, that's always been a negative in Earth's favor-”

“Herb.”

“Yeah?”

Hazel smiles, shaking his head. “I'll do it. I might be crazy, but I'll do it.”

Herb grabs his own briefcase, smiling. “Then I wish you luck. Oh, and, Hazel?”

“Yeah?” he says, hand on the other briefcase.

“I think shooting your boss counts as messing up the mission. You owe me twenty!”

And with that, Herb disappears.


End file.
